Chilloween
Chilloween was falling apart. Daley ran off crying leaving Nathan complaining about her again. Eric was mad at Melissa and Lex for spying on him. I just wanted to do something nice special for a change, and everybody was sabotaging it. I looked at Jackson, he was resting his chin on his knees. As usual, he remained quiet.
"Please, please" I breathed to him. I didn't like to beg, but I didn't know what else to do. For a moment, I thought he wasn't going to help, but when he rolled his eyes, I knew he would. I watched everyone else argue while he grabbed the guitar from the plane. I didn't even notice him sit behind me until he started to play. Everybody stopped arguing when the music began, and I couldn't pull my eyes off of him.
It's just another morning glory
One more twisted side of this wild ride
Another chapter in the story
But I can't hide the way I feel inside!
Cuz I'm a stranger in a strange land
And I'm a million miles from my home
If I gotta take my last stand,
I won't stand alone!
I won't stand alone!
I won't stand alone.
Well I won't stand alone
I won't stand alone.
I won't stand alone.
He held out the end of the song just a little longer and once he was done the applause started. Even Eric was in awe. I looked right at Jackson and saw him looking right at me, his signature half grin on his face. I couldn't hold back returning it with one of my own.
We passed out coconut drinks, Jackson with the last two in his hands.
"I admit, I was skeptical at first, but all I can say now is Happy Chilloween" he said, sitting down next to me as he handed me my drink. Everyone was toasting, but I was only looking at Jackson. I raised my coconut to him and he hit his against mine before we each took a drink, my eyes never leaving his. He saved Chilloween.
I didn't notice until later that Melissa disappeared.
I woke up in the middle of the night and sat up. Everyone else was asleep, but Jackson wasn't in the tent. Normally, when I woke up at night, I just rolled over and went back to sleep. Tonight was different. I left the tent as quietly as I could, putting on my flip flops before walking out toward the beach.
I don't know what possessed me to look for him, but my gut told me to. I found him sitting on a long on the beach, staring out at the ocean. I hesitated for a moment before I walked over and sat right next to him.
"What are you doing out here?" he asked.
"Looking for you" I told him. He raised an eyebrow and I nudged him lightly.
"Thank you" I whispered. He turned toward me again, confusion clear on his face.
"For what?" he asked. I gave him a small smile.
"You saved Chilloween. I know you didn't want to play for everyone, but I really appreciate it" I told him. I waited for a moment for him to respond, but he didn't. I got up to go back to the tent, but Jackson grabbed my arm when I stepped away. I turned back and looked at him, he was standing right in front of me.
"You're welcome. Happy to help" he told me. I gave him a hug, my head resting against his chest so I could hear his heartbeat. It took a moment, but he hugged me back.
He let me go a little faster than I wanted but seeing him smile at me was worth it. It was a full smile too, not one of those little half smiles he normally gave.
I tried to pull him back toward camp, but he wouldn't follow. He held up one finger and I nodded, leaving him on the beach, knowing he would follow soon.
The next afternoon, I didn't know how to react. Jackson was sick, he could be dying, nobody willing to say that he wasn't. Melissa had just run off, Daley following her. Nathan and Lex were at the beach by the plane. Eric had run off again, so I was alone. Seeing my opportunity, I snuck into the tent to see Jackson laying on his side, clutching his stomach.
I sat down next to him and put my hand on his shoulder, unsurprised at his lack of movement. I hesitated for a moment, before I spoke.
"Jackson, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I'm scared, we all are. This democracy won't work without you, Jackson, you're the voice of reason for the group. You have to get better" I told him. I stopped again, unsure about what I was about to say.
"You're my safety net, Jackson. Without you, I'll be alone here. You have to get better. I… I can't stand alone" I whispered. I couldn't believe how my voice cracked near the end. I wiped a few tears off my cheek before speaking again.
"I need you" I said, so quietly I could barely hear the words. Shouts approaching pulled me out of my trance. I got up to leave but couldn't stop one last look back at Jackson.
When Abby came back, everything changed. We were splitting up. Eric was going with Abby. Jackson was too. I couldn't believe it. Everything was going great. Well, everything was going ok. As ok as it could be stranded on a desert island, but that isn't the point.
Jackson is leaving. I don't know what to do. He stormed off after dinner. I didn't have the guts to follow him then, but it's almost time for bed and I have to talk to him. Daley was talking to me, but I wasn't really listening. I rolled my eyes and left to look for Jackson, ignoring Daley shouting at me as I left.
It didn't take long for me to find Jackson. There weren't a lot of places to hide at night. And he also wasn't as good at hiding anymore. I took a deep breath and marched up to him, determined to talk before I lost my courage. He was sitting on the same log on the beach as our Chilloween night. He saw me coming and waved me over.
"Taylor" he said simply, patting the log next to him. The silence was tense for a couple minutes before I had to break it.
"Why?" I asked. I looked out over the water.
"Why what?" he asked. I turned my head right to him and glared.
"You know what I mean, Jackson! Why are you leaving me?" I shouted, pushing him. He didn't even try to catch himself before falling into the sand. When he sat up, his shoulders drooped.
"I have to go, Taylor. I can't sit here not knowing anymore. I have to take action" he told me. I crawled on my knees to sit next to him.
"What do you think you'll find?" I asked. It was dark, Daley would be looking for us soon, but I didn't care.
"Hope" he said simply. He held up a hand to cut off my response as he finally looked at me for the first time since he declared he was leaving.
"I don't know what we will find on the other side of the island, but I have to find out. If I stay here, I'm going to give up hope of getting rescued. I hate not knowing, I don't want to feel like this is home anymore" he told me. My next words escaped my mouth before I could stop them.
"So, does that mean you want everything to go back to normal when we go home?" I asked. I heard him take a long breath and was afraid he wasn't going to respond.
"What are you saying, Taylor?" he asked. I looked in his cool blue eyes and saw true confusion instead of condescension that I was so used to from previous relationships.
"Jackson, what is going to happen with us when we get off this island? Are you going to go back to being on your own? Am I going to go back to new boyfriends every month? Are we going to go back to pretending each other doesn't exist? Are we still friends? Are we something more?" The questions poured out faster than I could have imagined. I shocked myself with how much I was willing to ask him. He seemed shocked too, clearly searching for words.
He took my hand as he spoke.
"Taylor, I don't know when we are going to go home. I don't know what we are going to find on the other side of the island. I don't know exactly what I feel for you. I don't even know what love feels like. But I do know I don't want this to be the last conversation we have" Jackson told me. I moved to respond, but he put a finger to my lip and I remained quiet.
"I want to talk about us when we go home, Taylor. Not now" he told me. I tried to respond again, but he pressed his lips to mine before I could get any words out. He pulled me into his chest with one hand on the small of my back and his other hand grabbing my hair. The kiss ended faster than I would have liked. When he pulled away, he put his hand on my cheek as he gave me the same little grin that made my heart skip a beat every time I see it.
He turned away and walked off, never giving me a chance to respond. Tomorrow, he would go looking for hope. I didn't have the opportunity to tell him that he was the one that gave me hope.
For the next three days, the stress was getting to everybody at camp. It was down to Nathan, Lex, Daley, and me. Everything changed when we split up. The attention to detail was gone. The companionship was gone. Even hope was gone. I spent most of my time on my own, thinking about Jackson. On the third day after our groups split up, I was walking by the plane when I was ambushed by the pilot.
When the pilot jumped out of the plane, I was scared, but I thought everything was fine. When he started talking and laying in to me, I knew I was wrong, so I shouted for Nathan. He came running with Daley and Lex right behind him. Kept talking about how I should have taken better care of her.
When the pilot made a torch, I felt more fear than I have ever felt before. Daley jumped in front of him, then Lex in front of her. I didn't move a muscle. I couldn't. Nathan pulled Lex and Daley out of the way and the pilot laughed.
"I am so going to enjoy this" he drawled. I still couldn't move.
But then, when I was sure our shelter would be destroyed, Jackson came back and got right into the pilot's grill. He grabbed the pilot's hand that was holding the torch and kept it away from our camp, pure determination on his face.
"Give me an excuse" Jackson hissed. Suddenly, I felt safe, I could move again. I went over to help support an injured Ian while Eric grabbed the torch from the pilot. Then Jackson pushed the pilot away, standing between us as a barrier.
"You think this is over?" the pilot shouted. None of us said a thing until Melissa shouted at us all to be quiet and listen. I thought it was the storm, but a plane was flying directly over us. We all ran out to the beach, waving at the plane.
"Did they see us? Are they coming back?" I exclaimed, not wanting to know the answer. It took a few seconds, but it felt like hours, but the plane turned back toward us. We were saved.
In our rush of hugs, I even hugged Melissa, but I couldn't get to Jackson. That didn't matter though. We were going home. There would be plenty of time to talk.
We all gathered our belongings, or what was left of them, and soon there was a lifeboat landing at the beach.
I saw Jackson and Eric carrying the stretcher, but when they passed the captain, he offered to help. Jackson thought about it for a moment, but eventually relented, giving the captain a pat on the shoulder as they passed. Jory took the other side, freeing Eric and Jackson.
Eric came up to me first, talking about some movie, but I didn't really care.
"Eric, all I really care about is going home and seeing my parents" I told him. He looked surprised, and when I took my bag and stood, I turned to see Jackson walking toward me.
"There might be one more thing" I whispered, barely loud enough for Eric to hear. He laughed softly and pushed me toward Jackson. Eric might be a lazy jerk, but he had my back from the moment we crashed.
"Typhoon Melissa. Won't forget that one" Jackson said as I fell into step next to him.
"So, what's going to happen?" I asked. He chuckled.
"I'll probably have to deal with the probation violation. Maybe they will let me off for time spent here" he joked. I forced a laugh but was still worried.
"And after that?" I asked.
"Well, I will probably have to find a new school. Again. And a new foster family. Again. Lucky, I have less than a year to go before I'm free" Jackson said.
"What about us?" I asked, surprising even myself by my blunt attack. He stopped on the beach and put his hand on my shoulder. I turned to look up into his blue eyes, getting lost like I had many times before.
"If you still want me after all this gets sorted out, I'm yours" he told me. My jaw dropped, and he laughed, putting his thumb under my chin, pushing my mouth closed before he gave me a hug and kissed my forehead. I returned the hug and breathed in his scent again.
He put his hand on my back and we started walking again, when suddenly, a thought came to my mind.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked. He shrugged and said that I could.
"Is Jackson your first name or your last name?" I asked. He let out a sigh, and for a moment I thought he wasn't going to answer.
"It's Cody. Cody Jackson" he told me. I didn't tell him how happy it made me that he told me, just kept walking toward the boat.
Right before we got on the boat, we all decided to put our video diaries in the old box we found. Jackson was our leader when we first crashed and now it was only fitting he was the one to lead us at the end as well.
"We made these video diaries to each tell our own story in our own way. We've all taken something from this island. This way, we can each leave something of ourselves behind" Jackson said. He shut the top of the old rusty box we found a week or so before, putting it into a hole dug right by our plane.
"Who knows? Maybe someone will find this someday and learn the true story of the survivors of Flight 29 down" Jackson said, throwing some dirt on the box, burying it away.
There were mixed emotions all around, from all of us. But then Jackson stood up, stomping the dirt in over the box.
"Let's go home" he said. He didn't have to tell me twice.
We all walked together to the boat, Jackson leading the way. We took one last look back at the island, our home for the past month before getting on the boat and heading back to the real world.
Lex, Eric, Nathan, and Daley were with me and Jackson on the first helicopter heading home to Los Angeles.
"Hey, kids. We are going to start the landing process in a moment. Hold on tight back there!" the pilot told us. I grabbed Jackson's hand and he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. I put my head on his shoulder and he put his on my head.
"Are you two…?" Daley asked, her voice trailing off at the end. I smiled.
"Yep" I told her, making sure to pop the 'p' at the end. I saw Lex was shocked. Eric was smiling at me. Nathan grinned, and Daley looked nervous.
"What about Melissa?" Daley asked. I thought my heart stopped beating for a minute waiting for Jackson to answer.
"I talked to her before we left the island. No problems" Jackson said simply. It was then that I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding.
Nothing more was said until we landed. Jackson had his hand around my waist until the helicopter touched down.
When we were let out of the helicopter and set foot on concrete for the first time in a month, we saw a parade of cameras and reporters. Jackson led the way as we pushed our way through the crowd. It took a long time to get through, but when we did, it was worth it.
Our parents were waiting. Nathan's parents were standing close to my parents. I saw Daley and Lex's parents. I saw Eric's too. Out of all ten of us, I saw everyone's parents. Except for Jackson. I looked at him and he gave me a small smile, lightly pushing me toward my parents.
Reluctantly, I let him go. It didn't take long for my emotions to take over. I ran to my parents and got enveloped in a huge hug. All three of us were crying.
"You are never going on a school trip again" my mom said through her tears. I forced a laugh, but I agreed whole heartedly.
When we got ready to leave the helicopter pad, I finally looked back at Jackson. He was talking with the pilot. Jackson held his hand out and the pilot shook it. They held the handshake for a few seconds, neither one looking away. Jackson clasped the pilot's shoulder and I saw the pilot nod his head before walking away.
I gestured toward Jackson and he gave me a signature half smile and a nod. I smiled back to him and turned away with my parents. I saw my mom giving me a knowing look, but I didn't care. I knew Jackson would be back. And I would be waiting for him when that day came.
I had a good feeling about life, and Jackson was to thank. I couldn't wait to celebrate Chilloween with him in the years to come.
Author's Note: I watched Flight 29 Down as a kid and forgot about it for close to a decade probably. I bought the DVD set recently and as I watched, I was reminded of how much I loved Jackson and Taylor as a couple. I was so sad when they didn't end up together. I love the anti-hero Jackson as well as the attraction to his opposite in Taylor.
I hope you all liked it and hope to see a review as well. Thanks guys!